


I know Sexual Tension when I see it

by icanbeyourzoomer



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cheerleader Shelby Goodkind, F/F, beccas alive bc I said so, linh is the college student who TA’s their APUSH class, toni is a soccer player in this because I said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:02:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28747377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icanbeyourzoomer/pseuds/icanbeyourzoomer
Summary: Linh wanted to pull her hair out.or,Shelby and Toni need to get their shit together and date already, told from the POV of the new TA in their APUSH class, Linh Bach.
Relationships: Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 10
Kudos: 166





	I know Sexual Tension when I see it

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO OMG. so here’s the thing. I’m obsessed with this fucking show, I love it sm. I won’t be writing Shelby with internalized homophobia and all that in this because I struggle with that myself, so I’d rather not live through her and make myself feel shitty LMAOOO so I’m very sorry because I know that is a big part of her character! Maybe I’ll write it in a different story. anyways I just had this idea so I thought why not write it.

Linh had thought that once she graduated high school she would never have to go back to waking up at 7 just to make it to school by 7:30.

Apparently she was wrong. Something had possessed her in her sophomore year of college, and she decided she wanted to become a teacher.

 _This was an absolutely idiotic idea_ , was the only clear thought in her head as she walked through the halls of Dawn Of Eve Highschool at _7:15_ on a Monday morning. The coffee cup in her hand was being gripped so hard the lid had started to loosen, and Linh winded her way through the halls of the school. The rooms each had signs with numbers and names of teachers, she needed to find room 211.

 _207, 208, 209, 210, 211._ There was a bright red banner above door, stating the name of the teacher. Mr. Young, a nice dark skinned man that Linh had met over the weekend in preparation for her first day. Just beyond the door stood a group of girls, standing together and laughing near the lockers. One of them, a brunette in a 49ers jersey and ripped jeans, hung off the back of a tall blonde wearing a crew neck and a tennis skirt.

Linh stood at the corner of the hall, not sure if she should wait until after the bell rung or go inside early. Her question was answered for her when she could Mr Young making his way down the hallway, throwing her a friendly wave.

"Shalifoe, what have I told you about PDA in the hallways." He teased, causing the rest of the girls in the group to bust out laughing.

The blonde chuckled, "It’s not PDA if we aren’t dating, Mr. Young."

Half of the girls surrounding them gave a scoff or an eye roll. Linh could have sworn she heard a muffled, "Not dating my ass.", followed by a slap and a squeak, presumably from the person who had just been hit.

She came to learn in the next week, that the group of girls outside the class were the highlight of that entire class period.They played their jokes off of each other and had everyone laughing for the entire hour and a half long block. Somehow they were able to talk the entire time and still manage A’s on every assignment. All nine of them were so different, yet they seemed to be the most right knit group Linh had ever seen.

None of them were closer than Toni and Shelby, though.

And even though it seemed like all seven of the other girls knew, and the whole class knew, and Mr. Young himself could tell, that there seemed to be a mutual crush situation happening, it didn’t seem like Toni and Shelby themselves could tell.

It was _infuriating._

Toni never fully woke up until halfway through class, and she clung to Shelby until she was able to keep her head up on her own. Even after she could bring herself to start working on her class work, she still had to be touching the blonde in some way. An elbow to an elbow, or a finger drawing patterns on the others palm. Leg to leg or literally on each others laps, it didn’t matter, but it seemed like she needed to be touching the other girl or she would combust.

And Shelby, jesus christ, would spend most of the class period looking at Toni with that soft smile reserved for only her. Literally, she looked at _nobody_ else like that. Not Becca, or Fatin, not Dot or Rachel or Nora, not Leah or Martha. Only Toni, and it was so sickeningly obvious what that smile _meant_ , but both of them were too far into denial to notice.

Re: it was _infuriating._

She kept her mouth shut though, hoping they would eventually figure it out themselves and she hopefully wouldn’t lose her sanity before then.

Hopefully.

—

It isn’t until her fourth week at the school that she realizes literally _everyone_ is just sitting around and waiting for the two girls to date.

She’s in the teachers lounge eating lunch with Mr. Young, grading essays and adding to the conversation between the other teachers every once in a while.

Mrs. Harris, the tan skinned AP spanish teacher looked over her shoulder and spotted the name on the essay she was grading.

"Linh! You didn’t tell me you worked with Mr. Young’s _first_ period!"

Linh looked towards the older woman with confusion, "Yeah, I do. Is that bad?"

Mr Faber shook his head, "That means you have Shalifoe and Goodkind together, right?"

Linh gave a groan, "Please don’t make me think about it, they’re waist deep in denial and the longer I dwell on it the more desperate I am to put an end to it."

Everyone lets out a laugh, mumbles in agreement, and gets back to what they were doing before.

-

It isn’t until the championship football game later that month. That’s when Linh is pretty sure Toni has a realization.

Shelby was doing backhand springs down the track, flawless and one after the other, until suddenly she was on the ground. Linh felt her heart stop as Shelby tumbled to the floor and clutched her ankle, and the crowd let out a gasp. In her peripheral vision, Linh sees Toni jump the fence in front of the bleachers and run towards the blonde. 

Toni cradles Shelby’s cheek and hugs her as close as she can, Mr Young is on the phone with 911 and the other girls are making their way towards Shelby as fast they’re able to.

Time speeds by after that, eventually ending with Toni climbing into the ambulance with Shelby and Linh offering to drive half of their friend group to meet them at the hospital.

Halfway through the drive, Fatin gets a call and answers it on speaker.

"Toe! How’s she doing?" Fatin exclaims, all other girls in the car lean forward with restless anticipation.

"Sh-she’s fine, it’s a bad sprain, they said. A few weeks on crutches and some physical therapy and she should be good." Toni replied, her voice had a foreign shake.

Dot frowned in the passenger seat, turning to face the cell phone, "If she’s fine, why do you sound like you just watched her flatline?"

"Shut up, I just. I don’t know."

Becca scoffed, "What do you mean you don’t know?"

The girl on the other end of the line growled, "When she fell, I just. I don’t know how to describe it, it was like I couldn’t breath. Like, I think if anything ever happened to her I would just die on the spot. And then there was this feeling in my chest, until I found out that she was for sure gonna be okay. Like, everything was being compressed together. Which- it sounds so dumb, now that I’m saying it out loud. But-"

"Toni." Becca said calmly, interrupting the other girls tangent.

"Becca." Toni mumbled.

"When you look at her, how do you feel." Becca asks, tone soft in a way Linh had never heard her speak.

"What?"

"Answer the question, Shalifoe." Linh called from the drivers seat.

"Uh- I don’t know. Everything feels right, I guess. Like when I get mad and I’m about to lose my shit, I can look at her and forget why I was even angry in the first place. Or in the mornings, when I see her everything’s all like, warm, or something. She just makes me happy, is that not how your supposed to feel when you see your best friend?"

Martha groaned from her spot in the back, "Toni! Use your brain, for once in your life, Jesus."

"Wha-, what do you mean, use my brain? I’m using it right now, Martha!"

"Are you, though?" Fatin exclaimed from her seat. "We’re your best friends too, and last time I checked, you don’t feel like that when you look at any of us."

"The fuck, Fatin? What does that even-." Toni cuts herself off, a silence following her sentences departure.

At first, Linh thinks she’s hung up on them, and she prepares herself to listen to Fatin rant about the implications of hanging up someone before you know they’ve safely arrived at their destination. But then, so quiet she almost has to strain to hear it, there’s an;

"Oh."

Dots head whips around again, "Oh? What do you mean, oh?".

"Uh. Shit."

Linh can hear it in her tone, like a switch has finally been flipped in her brain. She’s heard it in her own voice, after figuring out what was wrong with a math equation. Toni’s had a realization.

"Fucking finally," She mourners to herself, flipping on her turn signal and driving into the hospital parking lot.

Fatins laughing, Becca and Martha wheezing along with her. Dot has a fond smile growing on her face, letting out a whistle.

"See you in a minute, toe!" Fatin exclaims, ignoring Toni’s indignant squawk at the nickname.

"I think," Becca says, "we won’t have to deal with their endless _longing stares_ for much longer."

They all nod in agreement, Fatin runs ahead to where the rest of their friends are waiting to fill them in on what went down in the car. Linh cannot wait for this shit to be over.

-

Becca was wrong.

They had all thought she was right, and that Toni would confess, the pining could be over, and they could be a grossly cute couple.

Becca was wrong, because after weeks of Toni carrying Shelby’s books and her backpack, weeks of Toni still acting exactly the same as she had before. Shelby gets to stop using the crutches, gets to carry her own stuff, and everything goes back to normal.

Nobody _wanted_ normal. Everybody wanted Toni to pluck up the courage to ask Shelby out to a fucking _dinner._

Now the stares Toni gives Shelby have meaning, and it’s getting pitiful to watch. She followed the blonde around everywhere like a lovesick puppy, and Linh wasn’t sure how much more she could stand. 

It definitely isn’t one sided though. Shelby waits every day after school for Toni to finish varsity soccer practice. She sits on the bleachers for two hours and does homework, cheers when Toni scores, and looks longingly at the brunette girl from across the field.

Linh wants to rip her hair out.

-

At some point, everyone just kind of gave up. Toni was never going to tell Shelby anything, and Shelby was going to live in her denial world, and it was fine.

It was annoying as fuck, but there was nothing anybody could do about it.

Then came the Varsity soccer championships. Toni had been pumped up for this game for the last week, constantly talking about how they were going to crush the team from some school across the city. She invited Linh, and of course she agreed to come.

The game was riveting, Toni was up and down the field faster than anyone else, intercepting the ball and making passes from farther than anyone thought she could. She made a goal in the first half of the game, and they stayed tied with the other team for the rest of the game.

There we’re three minutes left, and Toni was getting visibly frustrated. She got subbed out for a minute, coach telling her to calm down if she wanted to play before the time was up.

She subbed back in, 1 minute left. The other team had the ball, they threw it in, and Toni ran faster than she had a mere five minutes ago. She took the ball from a tall girl on the other team, gliding between defenders and dribbling the ball down the field.

Ten seconds left on the clock, and everyone in the stands are getting visibly antsy, Leah’s leg is bouncing and Nora is chewing on her pen. Rachel is cheering Toni on, screaming so loud Linh is worried for her vocal chords.

Five seconds left on the clock.

Toni kicks the ball.

It hits the back of the net.

The buzzer goes off, the score changes, _2-1,_ and Toni is running to the bleachers.

Shelby us jumping the gate, an eerie reminder of when they were on opposing sides of a similar situation, and she’s running to Toni.

Dot gets up to run as well, and Keah places a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait a second, I have a feeling something is gonna happen."

Leah earns a few raised brows, but everyone listens, staying in the stands and watching.

 _Watching_ as Toni wraps her arms around Shelby’s neck and pulls her in for a kiss.

" _WHAT?"_ Becca screams, staring with an open mouth at her two friends.

All seven of the girls let out similar yelps, staring at the girls in the center of the field.

The kiss ends, Toni’s legs are wrapped around Shelby’s waist, and they rest their foreheads together. They look content, standing there, in the middle of the fake grass. Toni tucks her face into Shelby’s neck, and the blonde girl lets out a loud laugh. They spin around until Toni is placed back on the ground, being called over by a smirking coach, cat calls from her teammates.

Shelby makes her way back to the bleachers with a sheepish expression.

"Shelby Goodkind, you have been holding _out_ on me!" Fatin exclaims, followed by remarks from the other girls in their group.

Linh is just glad that she’ll be able to sleep at night now, now that they’re happy, so is she.

**Author's Note:**

> I DIDNT KNOW HOW TO END THIS IM SO SORRY SNDNSNSNS. also I personally have never been in love so the stuff Toni says in her like confession moment on the phone?? bull shit literally idk I made it up HAHAH. hope y’all enjoyed <3


End file.
